I Made It! First Week at the MTC

Hola familia y amigos!!

Como estan?  Well... I made it through the first couple days at the MTC!   OK, it is not ANYWHERE near as bad as everyone described to me!  Seriously.. it has been awesome!  The days have been SUPER long, but besides that I have loved everything!  Mi companera es la Hermana Harper de Las Vegas Nevada.  Va a Nashville Tennessee.  She is awesome!  We are really similar and we get along great.  We are both musical (she plays the violin) and not so sporty.. haha, and we are both really easy going.  We also have random things in common like wanting to learn the cello and only eating the egg whites of hard boiled eggs hahah.  We share a room with the 2 other Hermanas in our district, Hermana Michaud from Arizona y Hermana Blatter from Montana.  They are both really cool!  Our district is also awesome.  We are just starting to get to know everyone and be comfortable around everyone so it's been really fun.  Man, time is short here so I can't say much but I will hurry.  I decided when I write letters I am going to copy my dear friend Sydney from the daybook blog and write down some wonderful Awkwards and Awesomes from the week! (ok so she's not my dear friend I've actually never met her but I do like her blog a lot and I think this will be fun!)

 

Awkwards, uncomfortables, y chistes (funnies)

• having to wait for your companera while she uses the bathroom.  or worse, making her wait for you
• going out everyday with wet hair... yes, I really do go out with wet hair.  We have next to no time to get ready.  It's a good thing I have no one to impress here! :)
• playing sand volleyball. you all know how good I am at sports!
• even worse, having an elder tell me I had a bandaid stuck to my behind while playing sand volleyball (how the heck did that get there?!)
• and even further, seeing that same elder later at dinner.  he waved to me and I didn't recognize him so I waved back awkwardly, and he had to explain who he was.. haha
• sleeping on the top bunk.  yeah... YOU try getting up there with no ladder!! It's harder than it looks! I have 3 bruises on my legs from that.  Luckily mi hermanas found some ladders for us in an empty room :)
• teaching our first lesson. in spanish. on our first real day of learning spanish. holy moly! more details about that later.  but the funniest part was when we were opening with a prayer... Hna. Harper was saying the prayer and I had it written down.  We were teaching 'Mario' (who was really our teacher Hno. Gillis) and the prayer I had written down was originally for an earlier invesitagor (Luis... our other dear Hno. Hill), so one of the sentences said "Estoy agradecido por Luis".  Hna. Harper was reading what I had written, and I was trying to tell her during the prayer to say 'Mario' instead of 'Luis', but I couldn't really tell her while she was praying. Soooo.... during our first prayer in our first lesson with Mario, we said 'we're thankful for Luis'.  It was great.  I was trying so hard not to laugh but I couldn't help it

 

Awesomes

• seeing people I know!  Holy moly, I forgot how many people were here right now.  I saw Trisha Zemp, Tara Prince, Rachel Hill (unfortunately we're not in the same district or zone :( :( ), Courtney Moses, Meg Pearson, Rebekah Gamble, Greta Martino, Tressa Tenney, Trent Hyer, Kevin Hilton, Garrett Seymour, Jimmy Frazier, and Mike Larsen teaches here.  I also saw a kid who went to Bingham.  I didn't recognize him but he was like 'hey I know you! I went to Bingham!'  it's always good to see a familiar face! 
• the spirit here.  It is everywhere, and so awesome!
• Mi Companera!  Like I said.. she is awesome
• my teachers... they all go to BYU (one of them actually said he thinks he had a class with me because I look realllly familiar)  they are all spiritual giants and really down to earth and cool
• learning spanish.  We are in what's called the pilot program which means they only speak spanish to us from day 1!  They are nice sometimes and repeat their sentences in english, but it has been pretty crazy and very cool at the same time!  I'm surprised at how much spanish I know actaully.. I can understand them 95% of the time and it's been good because I am able to help mi companera (she has never taken any espanol).  Now I just need to learn to speak!
• praying in Spanish.  So far I have felt the spirit the strongest when I have prayed or taught.  The first time one of the our elders prayed in spanish I felt the spirit so strong and I feel it every time I pray now (we say all of our prayers en espanol).  When we were teaching Mario as well, I felt the spirit so strongly when I testified that God exists and that the plan of salvacion is real.  We had no idea what we were doing but I felt the spirit guiding me and helping me pull out every spanish word I could remember to help him understand what we had to say

 

Well I don't have much time so I can't say too much more.  But everything is going sooo great!! I really love it here.  I can see why people get anxious to get out, but it has been really awesome.  We basically just get to study and learn all day which I love doing.  Mi companera and I for gym time like to jog to the field and then walk around and do core exercises while we practice spanish.  At night mi hermanas y yo sing a hymn together in espanol.  We have been obedient (there are A LOT of rules here) and we have been getting into really good habits which is awesome.  It feels great and I know this is where I am supposed to be!!  This evangelio (gospel) is amazing!  Lo siento por (sorry for) mi Spanglish.. hahah.  I am learning and trying to practicar a lot.  I love you all, thanks for your support!  Send me letters! :) TE AMO MUCHO!

 

Love, Hermana Hunt

 

P.s. Loag thanks for the dearelder letter!  It was my first letter! :) It made my day!

 

P.p.s. Aric thanks for the language tips... mi companera and myself are already using them and it is helping a lot!

 

 

P.s. Familia.......

 

Mama, thank you soooooooo much for the package OMG it made my day!! Hahaha I was laughing SO hard at the picture of tux!! And I actually did buy an alarm clock but I will find someone to give that to. :)  also.. if you ever find those colored pencils they would be really helpful.  if not, no big deal!    Also, I tried sending pictures but I can't figure out how to attatch them into an e-mail these computers are so weird and only let us do certain things.  I will send some home in a letter and hopefully figure out how to e-mail them next week when I have more time!  Thanks so much for everything!! LOVE YOU ALL!